Let me tell you something you already feel but might not want to say out loud. The days of privacy are over. I do not love admitting that, and as a guy who spent years on the LAPD, it did not sit easy with me either. But think about every terms of service you have ever tapped agree on. The phone. The TV. The apps. Those ships have sailed.
You have seen it happen. You are standing next to somebody and you mention a product or a service out loud, and before you have even typed a single question into a search bar, there it is in your feed. Now, that does not mean they should be turning on the camera while you sleep. But you know how that goes. The machine is already watching, already listening, and already deciding what you see.
Here is the part nobody bothers to tell the small business owner. That same machine is the most powerful customer-finding tool ever built, and right now it is mostly being run on you instead of for you. You are the target. The goal of this post is to flip that, so you become the one using it. The good news is the version that works for a local business is free. It just takes a plan. Let me walk you through it.
Strategic, Not Tactical
The single biggest mistake I see is people confusing activity with strategy. Most business owners use social media tactically. They hop on, they like a few things, they comment congratulations on the neighbor kid's graduation, they tell somebody good job on the honorable mention. All of that is kind and human and fine. It is also a treadmill. It feels like you did something, and it builds nothing.
Strategic is the bigger game plan. Strategic is deciding, on purpose, where the people you want to reach actually gather, and then showing up there with a reason for them to remember you. Tactical is reacting to whatever floats by. Strategic is choosing the field before you play. You need a lot less of the first one and a lot more of the second.
Pick a Lane and Actually Stand for Something
Here is a thing that scares people, and it should not. To be remembered, you might have to take a stance. Vanilla does not work. Nobody is passionate about vanilla. But the people who love chocolate, they love chocolate. The people who love strawberry will defend strawberry to the end. Think about the early iPhone adopters who pre-order the new model months in advance and pay before it is even out. That passion is what you are after.
Those passionate people are the ones who become loyal customers and the ones who refer you. You do not attract them by being beige. You attract them by having an actual point of view, by saying something real, even when it means somebody on the other side disagrees. A clear position pulls your people toward you and lets the wrong-fit people drift away, which is exactly what you want. The goal was never to be liked by everyone. The goal is to be chosen by the right ones.
Fix Your Facebook URL, Then Get Into the Big Groups
Start with something small that most people never touch. Your Facebook URL. If yours is a pile of random numbers right now, you can fix it. Facebook lets a personal profile and a page set a custom username, which becomes your link. Go into your settings and set it. Mine is facebook.com/connorwithhonor. That is not just a clever handle, it is a clean address people can actually find and remember, and you can drop it in a comment or a post when somebody asks how to reach you.
Then go where the people are. Join the larger local community groups in your area and make your voice known. Not the I'm Connor and I sell real estate kind of known. That gets ignored. Interact with the posts. Add something useful. Take a position. Become a familiar, helpful face in that world, the consummate professional, the real estate person or the HVAC person or the plumber or the electrician who actually shows up and adds value. Over time, you become known, and known is what you are buying with all of this.
Do the Same on Instagram
Instagram works the same way. Join the local communities that fit your wheelhouse, the ones you genuinely enjoy. The Sheriff's department page, the Chamber of Commerce, the library, the local groups built around the things you actually care about. Post into them, monitor them, and interact. Yes, there is real work here, and yes, it is free. You are trading time and consistency for attention you would otherwise have to pay for.
Put the Whole Thing on a Calendar
None of this works as a someday-when-I-feel-like-it activity. It works when it is scheduled. Build out your strategic plan, the bigger game plan we talked about, and then put it on a calendar so it happens on a cadence instead of by accident. A real schedule is the difference between a strategy and a good intention.
This is the part of my own business I love, so allow me one honest plug. We build out AI architectures for local businesses, run an AI audit to see where you are and where you could be a lot stronger, and yes, we make some fantastic content calendars that come with it. If you want to see them, go to honorelevate.com. That is the selfish pitch, and now back to the free stuff that works whether you ever call me or not.
Set Up Google Business Profile, Then Actually Feed It
If you are a local business and you have not set up your Google Business Profile, stop and do that this week. It is free, it does not cost you a thing, and it is not hard. There are plenty of YouTube videos that walk you through every step. This is one of the highest-leverage free moves a local business can make, because it is how you show up when somebody nearby searches for exactly what you do.
But here is the part people miss. Once you set it, do not forget it. It is not a rotisserie oven you set and walk away from. You should be updating it at least every other day. And the updates matter in a specific way. They should be factual and useful, not self-promotional. The bots will scrub heavy self-promotion. If you keep stuffing your brand name and Connor with honor this, Connor with honor that, it gets cut. Give it solid information instead.
- Real estate agent: talk about the market. How many properties are in escrow, how many sold, what those property types look like. All of it is easily gleaned from the multiple listing service.
- HVAC company: share what homeowners can do to protect their unit and extend its life. Leave enough room around the outdoor compressor so it can breathe. Keep pets away from it so they are not using it as a fire hydrant. Small, real, helpful.
- Any trade: teach one useful thing a customer can actually use. Useful and factual beats promotional every single time, with the search engines and with the humans.
The machine is already watching everyone. The only question is whether your business is using it or being used by it.
That is the playbook. Strategic instead of tactical. A real point of view instead of vanilla. A clean Facebook URL, the big local groups, the same on Instagram, all of it on a calendar, and a Google Business Profile you actually feed. None of it costs money, and all of it compounds the longer you do it. If you want the AI-driven version that does a lot of this heavy lifting for you, that is what we build over at HonorElevate. And if you just want to hear more from me, you can always reach me at connorwithhonor.com.
I appreciate you reading. Have a fantastic weekend. I am Connor with honor, and I will see you in the next one.